The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-06-23
PROHIBITION DOES PROHIBIT.
Neal Dow of Maine Does Up Maj. Sparks
Of Tennessee Neatly.

closing printed paragraph said t
be part If a speech of state senate
Hon. j. w. Sparks. 1t is:
"But l will pass on now to 1857
when Maine passed what was and i
now known as tie Maine law under th
leadership of Neal Dow, and this sam
man, Neal Dow, after figuring in pro
hibition in Maine and the country eve
since 1851, now says, or has said re-
Gently in public speeches, that til,
whole thing is failure, and that pro
| hibition does not prohibit"
l am not little surprised thai
''this same man." j. w. Sparks, die
not provide for a decent retreat
from the statement contained in the
few lines which you sent me. II
Mr.. Sparks had said 81 am told so, y
or ''the newspapers say so,' he
would have escaped all responsible
ty. But he says it is 80. Perhaps
Mr.. Sparks may be surprised to
learn that | never said that at any
time nor anywhere. On the contra
ry have said thousand times in
the newspapers, the magazines and
on the platform that the Maine law
is now, and has been from the Fl st,
a great success.
L. 1t has suppressed every distil
lery and every brewery in the state !;
we had many of them.
2. 1t has swept clean of the liq-
our traffic more than three fourChs
of the state, containing more than
three fourths Of our population. in
all our rural districts and cur
smaller towns and villages the traf-
ic in any form is practically I'M
known. An entire generation has
grown up there never having seen
a saloon, knowing nothing of the
influences of places where strong
drink is sold. In Maine the word
failure" as applied to the law, is
never heard trom anybody, though
we have many who do not like ii;
aor is it ever seen in any newspa-
per, except some which come to
Us from New York, Ohio, Missouri,
Chicago, Texas, Tennessee and 9TH
er places far away.
). In 1884, after more than thirty
years experience of prohibition.
our people put it into the constitu
ton by g majority Of 47,075, the
affirmative vote being nearly three
times larger than the negative:
4. Before the enactment Of the
Jaw Maine was said to be the poor
est state in the Union, our people
spending in drink the entire taxa
BILE property Of the state in every
period Of less than twenty years, as
the people Of the nation are now do
ing in every period of thirty-fve
years.
5. Names share of the national
rink bill would be now about $l3,-
100000, but 100000 will pay the
cost Of all the liqnor smuggled into
the state and sold in violation Of
the law.
+. Maine is nov one of the most
prosperous states in the U8ion.
We save directly more than $l2,
100000, and Indirectly as much
more, in both cases, annually,
which, but for the Maine law,
would be spent and wasted in
drink.
Z. In the old rum time, ali oyer
The state, there were obtrugive and
offensive indications everywhere OF
poverty, dilapidation and decay.
Now, such symptoms of the liquor
curse are seen nowhere.
8. Our industries are greatly
multiplied and extended, with
abundant capital with which to
conduct them profitably; we have
great deal of outside capital seek
ing safe investments in other states
before the law we borrowed money
of all who were foolish enough to
trust us; now we borrow of nobody
but lend largely in exchange for
the securities OF other states. Ten
nessee being one of them, as /, per-
sonally, know.
8. Prohibition is accepted by all
our people as the settled, fxed poll
cy Q! the state; ii can no more be
changed than can our policy of civ
il, religious and personal property
1t is valued by our people as our
form of govern ment is and our poll
cy of free, universal education.
10. Before the Maine law our PEG
pie were shiftless, thriftless, poor
now they are active, industrious, en-.
terprising, thrifty, rich. The liquor
traffic earns nothing--its influence
is to waste the wages of labor anG
to ruin all who come under it's in
ffuence.
II. The liquor traffic yet fingers
on small scale ard more or less or
the sly in our larger towns and
cities, This is due only to certain
| defects in the law which are per-
fectly well known to US, which We
shall have corrected by and by; W,
are working for that now. Liquo
will be sold here and everywhere il
violation of law as long as it il
profitable to do so. 10 amending
our law, as we shall do in the nes
future, there is nothing require(
but such penalties of fine and i'm
prisonment as will make it unprofit
able and uncomfortable to every
body who shall persist In it's viola
ton; at the same time providin,
for prompt, quick administrator
of its reproofs, with no power in tn
courts to postpone trials or senten
ces, DQr in any way TO diminish o
soften the punishment. 1t must b
so much fine and so much Jail ever
time, with no delay or qualifica
ton. Very truly yours,
NEAL Dow.
Give Them a Chaudef